Twelve horses were killed Thursday night when fire ripped through their stable north of Guelph.
Firefighters from Arthur and Mount Forest were called to the farm property on Highway 89, just west of Mount Forest, shortly after 10 p.m.
They arrived to find the stable engulfed in flames, with heavy smoke coming out of it.
Before long, they were calling for help from their colleagues in Clifford, Harriston and West Grey.
“We knew something was serious. The call was for a barn on fire with horses trapped,” said David Guilbault, the fire chief of Wellington North.
By 1 a.m. Friday, Guilbault estimated that there were “close to 40 firefighters” on the scene.
Also present was Leonard Thomas, a truck driver who noticed the flames before firefighters arrived, and rushed to help.
“I grabbed the fire extinguisher in my truck … and ran over here to do what I could,” he told CTV News.
Initially, Thomas said, it looked like there was a small fire on the stable’s roof.
Those flames soon disappeared – only to be replaced by larger flames at the front of the stable.
Thirteen of the fourteen horses housed in the stable – some of which were being boarded at the farm – died.
“It’s a terrible tragedy,” said Guilbault.
The property owner was taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. He remained in hospital as of Friday morning, but was expectd to return home later in the day.
Thomas said he saw the man running into and out of the barn, attempting to get the horses to follow him out.
“He did everything possible. He was going through smoke to get in there,” Thomas said.
At the scene, firefighters worked to ensure the fire didn’t jump across the property to the farmhouse, which had a propane tank.
Initial indications did not point to the fire being suspicious, Guilbault said.
